Kuroi Ryū
by GeneralJellyfish
Summary: "Not much is known about the Kuroi Ryū, Princess." Kija said hesitantly, slightly embarrassment colouring his cheeks. "Most stories depict the Kuroi Ryū as a dark force that should be feared by all. Others say he fought with the other dragons to help protect King Hiryuu. And his power? Although it's true nature is a mystery, it is said to bring whole armies to their knees."
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

It's raining.

 _Why am I even surprised,_ she thought, _that it was raining on a day like this?_

Heaving a shuddering sigh, she shoved her hands deeper into jacket's pockets, hoping to conserve some semblance of warmth, despite the heavy sheets of rain pelting her already soaked form.

As if the universe were laughing at her, headlights lit up the path in front of her as a car rushed past her, causing a wave of freezing to crash into her. She stopped walking and closed her eyes, barely reigning in a scream of frustration. _Because pouring rain isn't depressing enough._

Having just about given up with trying to keep any part of herself warm, Ren raised her face to the darkened sky, letting the grumbles of hundreds of people shoving past and the ever-present sounds of inner Tokyo fade until she couldn't discern one from the other.

 _Next you know, I'll be struck by lightning._

Heaving another deep sigh, she lowered her face and started walking again, stopping only once she reached her destination.

Almost lazily, she dragged herself into the store, grabbing a basket along the way. As her shoes squelched against the tiled floor as she browsed the aisle, she gained many sympathetic glances from the other shop goers, all of whom had been smart enough to drive or bring umbrellas. _Stupid people and their stupid fore-sight._ Not wanting to spend any longer than she had to in the ill lit store, she powered through her shopping, shoes squelching every step of the way, ignoring how the shopkeeper glared at her for trekking water. _It's not my fault the sky decided to open up drown all of Tokyo in torrential downpour._ Not that she much to buy, just a few essentials.

Her gaze landed on a box of Chocolate Pocky's.

 _Maybe just one._

Absentmindedly putting the box of Pocky in her basket, she looked over everything she had collected, straining to remember if she had everything on her water destroyed shopping list, while simultaneously trying to calculate the overall price.

Satisfied that she seemed to meet her budget, Ren decided she had grabbed everything that she could and made her way to the counter. However, she paused halfway, cocking her head slightly at the noise. _What is that? It's too loud to be a train._ Once again ignoring the look she was getting from the shopkeeper, she crouched, placing her palm flat against the floor, not quite sure if she was imagining the sensation or not. _There, another tremor._ By now, she could see other people pausing and looking around in confusion, which soon turned to horror as they realised what was going on.

At first no-one moved, their brains unable to make sense of the input from their ears and feet. The ground was now violently trembling and the noise quickly escalated from a slight rumble to a deafening thunder. Then, like a switch being flicked, everyone started to scramble for safety, all of them on the autopilot mode that all-consuming fear creates. Ren abandoned her basket and scrambled out of the way of falling food products and shelves. The walls scream and the lights flicker rapidly before going out all together.

It was as if her brain had shut down. Everything blurred. Time sped up. Cracks appeared from beneath the breaking tiles. Fear and panic ensued as the ground shook up and down, as if the entire place suddenly fell from the sky and struck the earth with mighty impact. She scrambled up to her feet but most immediately lost balance and was reduced to crawling as she tried get away. Where exactly she was trying to go, was a mystery.

Impossibly, the trembling got worse, and with it, the screaming. Ren could barely hear her own heartbeat over the piercing shrieks of the other shoppers, as she got shoved out the way in their desperate panic to flee.

Then the world titled on its axis.

Truthfully, when she looked back upon her memories, it was not the world that tilted, but the small grocery store, when ground underneath it split and broke apart, causing massive, chasmic rifts everywhere. And Ren, having just been pushed to the floor, was too disorientated to save herself as everything started slant downwards, taking her with it.

As she flew of the edge, she caught a glimpse of something impossible, and time slowed for a second – a single second.

There, just hovering, seemingly unperturbed by the panicking people and falling debris. It's black and smoky form was vaguely human, and – though she had no way of knowing – in that singular second, it seemed to be staring right at her.

But time sped up and she was falling.

And then-

Nothing.

* * *

The first thing she heard, was silence

The first thing she smelt, was dirt.

The first thing she tasted, was blood.

The first thing she saw upon waking up, was darkness.

The first thing she felt upon waking up, was a cold, chill like electric shock running up and down her spine, radiating from her leg. It felt like there was gnome with a chainsaw inside her leg. It was a shooting pain, but somehow, that wasn't accurate enough. That was too slow. It fired, like a canon, following the line right up to her hip. It took everything in her not to scream, instead, reducing it to low moans and groans.

After what felt like hours – but in reality was minutes – a sort of numbness set in, allowing Ren to think beyond the hazy mist of pain. Without her realising it, her eyes had squeezed shut, like they were trying to block out the pain. Opening them, they took a few seconds to adjusted to the darkness, but it didn't take too long for her to realise that she seemed to be underground.

Now, more than before, the smell of dirt was present. The ground was hard and uneven, jagged rocks and loose pebbles digging into her stomach as she laid there, still catching her breath from the effort of keeping her screams to herself.

 _I must be under the shop,_ she thought, vaguely recalling how she had slid and fall into the chasm. _It's a wonder I survived a fall like that._

She shifted slightly, causing more fiery pain race up her body. _Evidently, not without consequences._ Knowing for certain that she had broken a leg – _because what else could it be –_ Ren hazarded a guess that she probably had more injuries that were being overshadowed by said brake.

She whimpered.

 _I wonder how long I've been down here._ Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing. _Do they even know I'm down here?_ Highly unlikely. _Would anyone even think to look for me?_ Let's not go there.

More time pasted.

Sometimes she was conscious, other times she was barely lucid enough to discern reality from dream. Often, when she wasn't completely consumed by pain, she pondered the shadow she thought she saw before she fell, wondering if it was real or a panic induced hallucination.

She was leaning towards the latter.

She was losing blood. _More blood than I have to spare._ Although she couldn't be sure, Ren was quite certain that she was starting to spend more time dreaming and less time conscious. Even then, conscious was a poor word of choice for muggy state of mind she fought to stay in.

Sometimes she thought she heard whispers, but they were too faint for her to say for certain. _Probably wind passing through open space._

The cave had an exit. For the longest time now, it had been taunting her, daring her to move, to crawl out. _How much time has passed now?_

She knows she should move. She knows she should try to get up, try splint her leg, try to anything . . . but she couldn't. If it wasn't the pain from her leg, it was the pain from her arms. If not her arms, then her ribs. If not her ribs, then her head and so on and so on.

 _Is it possible for the dark to become darker?_ One by one she felt her senses being to fade. Already the pain began to fade, although not due to her wounds miraculously healing. Her eyes had slid shut a long time ago, no longer wanting to see the doorway to possible freedom taunt her, like a juicy streak held just out of reach by a piece of string. She could no longer taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth, something she was grateful for despite knowing the absence of her senses wasn't a thing to celebrate. Around the same time, she could no longer smell the rich, earthy scent that had previously calmed her.

Whether it was because her sense failed her or because she wasn't breathing through her nose, she couldn't tell.

Strangely enough, it was her hearing was last to go. _How can you tell that you can't hear if all you can hear is silence?_ But no, not quite silence. _I can hear the air, the wind passing through the cave, like the chime of small bells._

 _Bells?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Review** **Response:**

 **Electrikitty: I always thought so too, but at the same time, all the male characters add a certain charm to the series. And yeah, I will be going over the typos, thanks for pointing them out!**

 **TheDarkKunoichi: All shall be revealed in due time, young Padawan.**

 **Cerlia: Thank you Kindly!**

 **VampireSiren: Interesting indeed**

 **It's short, I know, but oh well.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

The Blue Dragon watched the strange girl from afar.

It was obvious that she was badly hurt, as every time she would move, a pain filled wince would mar her expressions, and she would freeze before going limp.

More often than once, impulse found him drawing the attention of villagers away in attempts to leave her undisturbed. . . _why? . . ._ No matter how hard he tried,he was powerless to stop his feet from going to her. So, he hid in the shadows, just outside the entrance of the cave, just waiting and watching. Every time she whimpered, felt like a hot dagger to his gut, twisting and turning.

He clutched his stomach.

Sometimes, when she was awake, she would look into the shadows and right through him with such a forlorn expression, it was painful see. He wanted so badly to enter, to leave the dark, to comfort her . . . _help her . . .,_ to do anything other than stand there and bear witness to her suffering.

 _. . . she's . . the enemy._

 _. . . kill . . her . . ._

. . . He did not know why he saved her. _She was . . . different._ She was a stranger, an enemy that was here take advantage of his curse and yet . . . _I don't want to hurt her._. . there was a part of him that said _no, she's important._ It was a place set deep in his bones, in his blood, and leaving her to die felt like he was betraying himself, his instincts.

So, he carried her.

He carried her back to his cave, where he carefully set her down.

He took a cloth to the nearby stream and wet it, so that he could wash away the soot and grime and blood.

He stole bandages from the village, so that he could wrap her flesh wounds.

He cut away her pant leg _. . . strange . . ._ so that he could splint her leg in place, for it was obviously broken.

He cautiously removed her unusual clothing, silently apologising when he had to destroy the ruined garments, and placed his wolf's fur over her, resolving to find her some proper clothes to where once she awakes.

 _. . . if . . she awakes._ The thought made his heart twist painfully.

Eventually, the strangers' breathe evened out, getting deeper, stronger. Feeling relieved, the Blue Dragon released and inaudible sigh and sat there, not knowing what else to do other than wait and watch.

So, he watched and he waited.

* * *

 _You are now our other halves. You will serve Hiryuu as you master, protecting him with you lives. You will love him and never betray him. You have been taken from your old life and brought to this one, so that you can use the powers gifted to you for good._

 _Serve him . . . other halves . . . old life . . ._

 _. . . master . . . powers . ._

 _. . for good._

For the longest time, Ren was drowning within the dark recesses of her mind. Voices she'd never heard echoed everywhere, like someone had placed an ever-looping radio in a massive cavern. Sometimes she thought she saw things, but they flittered by too quickly and didn't make any sense. _Dragons? Castles? Red hair? Wh- what's going on?_

It was a small mercy when the voices began to fade, nothing more than murmurs now, too faint to distinguish actual words.

It was so dark whenRen eventually opened her eyes, almost as if there was no difference between the two. Even so, she could tell she wasn't where she was before. _It's so cold . . . so what is this warmth?_ She could feel something heavy draped over her, almost keeping the coolness of the air from affecting her. The ground, once again, was lumpy and sharp, digging into her back as if she were on a bed of earth and rocks.

 _How long does it take for a search and rescue?_

As the new location and protective covering fully registered in Ren's mind, she realised that she must have been found by someone– anyone. She jolted and tried to sit up to search the room, but was met with immediate regret when she felt multiple parts of her body burn and ache in protest.

"Guah!" She breathed, the sharp intake of breath bringing more pain to her presumable bruised ribs. At the same time, she heard a soft shuffling off to her right, almost inaudible. _What was that?_

Trying to regulate her breathing, Ren slowing twisted her head as far as the pain would allow and strained to see anything in the darkness.

"H-hello?" She whispered, but being met with silence. Undeterred – refusing to believe she had gone crazy – she tried again. "I-I know you-you're there."

Silence.

"I'm R-Ren," she swallowed loudly, unsettled by the lack of response. It was like they were trying to convince her they didn't exist, but she knew they did. She could **feel** them, just beyond her – limited – field of vision. "What's your name?"

More silence.

 _I **know** you're there. Why won't you answer?_

"Please, I-" _she could feel the tears gathering in her eyes,_ "-I just want t-to thank you." Her brow furrowed and the corners of her mouth titled down, her voice adopting a watery attribute as it faded uncertainly. "Please?"

Nothing. Just deafening silence weighing down on-

"Don't. . . move," came a soft voice. Despite that, Ren almost jumped in surprise, halfway convinced that she'd never hear them speak. Once again, she heard a slight shuffle and – to her surprise – her saviour emerged from the shadows – just enough – for her to see his faint outline. "You're. . . still hurt."

There was a certain hesitancy in his gentle tone, as if he wasn't quite comfortably with the words he was speaking. Even so, she was just glad he had spoken up at all. "Yeah, I kind of guessed that," she responded, trying and failing to mask the relief in her voice. "But I'm alive, am I not? And I'm guessing I have you to thank for that?"

As her eyes adjusted more to the dark, not only could she see his form better, but she could now also make out the bandages that littered her arms. She could even feel – now that she was focusing – that her left leg had been immobilised, preventing the broken limb from moving in her sleep.

Turning her attention back to her saviour, she watched as shifted again with a miniscule nod of his head, the slight chime of bells sounding with the movement.

The cave lapsed into silence.

It was some time before it was broken again, but much to Ren's surprise, it was not herself that broke it.

"Your . . name," he paused, seeming to contemplate his words heavily before he continued, "is Ren?"

"Yeah, and yours?" She again, trying to tone down her eagerness.

Again, he paused.

"Blue. . . Dragon," he murmured as he slid down the wall to sit crouched on the floor, a naturally gentle undertone carrying his voice across the room. Ren imagined that even in a room full a thousand people, she would still be able to pick his out, his soft-spoken words unique in the way that, although hard to catch, it also commanded your immediate attention so that you strained to listen to him. "I am. . . the Blue. . Dragon."

Ren frowned in confusion once his words caught up with her. _Strange._

"Is-" she paused. "Is that your name?"

"I don't. . . have a name," he admitted, timid and embarrassed.

 _Oh._ She turned her head to the ceiling – minding the pain it caused – and didn't comment. _What kind of person doesn't have a name?_ Immediately, she felt guilty for that line of thought.

"Well, what do other people call you?"

". . ." From the corner of her eye, she saw him stiffen and, like a slap to the face, she was hit with the realisation. _Oh, no, Ren you **stupid** idiot. _Quickly, she scrambled for something – anything – to say, but something else beat her to the punch.

Something small.

And furry.

"Py-kuu!"


End file.
